Saddlery and Custom Leatherwork Shop

[longrifle]

Hello All,

Well it has been a long road to get to this crossroads in my journey through life, but I am finally approaching the time for a critical decision about where exactly to come home to Wyoming to settle. I come here to this forum to solicit opinions on where you think a saddle shop and custom leather work shop would have the best shot to make it in the state. Some of you here have met me and my children at an Appleseed in Newcastle several years ago and my son and I came to another a few weeks ago in Douglas. I have been gone from Wyoming for over 6 years serving in the military and I can't wait to come home. I lived in Ranchester for several years working for a large ranch up there, and also for a couple years near Rock Springs. There are too many saddle shops in Sheridan for me to compete with to make it go well there, and I really have no desire to go live in SW Wyoming either, so eastern or northern Wyoming would be my preference. Wherever I settle, obviously I will need to find some kind of employment until the shop can support itself (and me). My thoughts had leaned toward several general areas, please tell me if I am mistaken. Cheyenne area seems to have alot of horse people and there is no saddle shop in the area that I am aware of. The Newcastle/ Black Hills area, I kind of fell in love with when we came to the Appleseed and stayed at Mamaliberty's place. I have also been looking real hard at the Torrington/Guernsey area, I think I see alot of opportunity there also. Any Thoughts?
On a related note, I am looking to buy a place. It doesn't have to be huge, but a place I can run a few cows, train some horses, and tool some leather, I would sure be appreciative. I will be coming up in a couple weeks to make a big circle, hopefully I will see some of you. Thank You for your time.

longrifle 

[BAR BAR 2]

Let me know when you come, I would like to meet you.

What kind of experience do you have? Do you have any pics of your work?
A saddle shop is a hard way to make a living anymore. It is usually feast or famin, minus the feast. There is a saddle shop in Gillette, but they only do repair work as well as sell some tack. They also started selling western home decor just to make ends meet. There are a few people around the area that do leather work, but most of them have regular jobs to pay the bills. A few years ago a guy opened a leather and saddle shop in Moorcroft, but he was unable to make it work. Dave Pollat, a fairly wellknown saddle maker is in Upton, but the last I heard is that he is retiring.

Most saddle makers who have a good business and clientele have been in business for decades. It is hard to get eatablished. Im not saying all of this to discourage you, just being realistic. I hope you can make it work, because we could use a good quality leather and saddle shop. I would suggest finding a job somewhere that will allow you to also do your leather work.

When you get to southern Campbell County let me know.

Tex

[MamaLiberty]

Welcome, longrifle! It would certainly be good to see you again. Please stop by if you can.

Do you make holsters? I suspect there would be a far better market for holsters and gun gear than saddles. People are getting rid of their horses as fast as they can as the hay and grain prices soar.  People are also buying guns like there's no tomorrow. 

[Kelly]

Welcome!  Do you know your dates yet?  I know a few other potential movers will be in the area end of July/early Aug; might be nice if we could coordinate local a meet up over coffee.

Best of luck with your business.  Check out our real estate board where I often post things I think may interest potential movers.  (No, I'm not an agent.)  I think there is a shop available in Upton...might even have an upstairs apartment.  I'll look later and post, if I find it.

Kelly

[manfromnevada]

Sorry, but I know nothing of saddlery or leather, but WELCOME BACK!
Have you considered Gillette? Good sized town, 30K I think, or 20K.

See you around I hope,
Mac
Crook County

[Brandy]

I think the Glenrock/Casper area would be a great place to have a leather/saddle shop.  There is a leather/saddle shop in Glenrock, I took a saddle there once to have a repair and I kid you not it came back to me with a bolt and nut holding the saddle cinch on, with the bolt sticking into the horse's side.   If you need a day job with excellent benefits to get things moving, Cameco is 23 miles away.  They just changed the schedule  so you work 4 tens each week resulting in 3 day weekends.    There are lots of rodeos/gymkhanas/roping events, etc. in this area and since this is local and close to or in Casper you could catch alot of the traffic from smaller areas that come to Casper to shop.  Also Casper hosts the National High School Rodeo each year.


Hope some of this was helpful.  PM me if you have any other questions that I might be able to answer.

Brandy

[Andrew]

Longrifle,

It is so good to hear from you!  Glad that you are finally done with your service, and will be settling in Wyoming.   I've though of you and your awesome kids from time-to-time... wondering what's going on and hoping that you are well.   Wish I could have made it down to Douglas for the shoot, but other obligations required my presence in Texas.   Can't say that I can offer much advice on where to settle in respect to saddle / leather work.    Regardless of where you end up, I'm sure that you will prosper.   I absolutely look forward to seeing you again sometime soon.

Kind regards,
Andrew aka "The Count"

[MamaLiberty]

There is a leather/saddle shop in Glenrock, I took a saddle there once to have a repair and I kid you not it came back to me with a bolt and nut holding the saddle cinch on, with the bolt sticking into the horse's side.  

Nooooooooooooo! And I will assume you didn't pay this person for their clever "repair." If 'twas me... they'd have had a nifty new piece of jewelry in/up their nose... but that's just me. 

[BAR BAR 2]

I think the Glenrock/Casper area would be a great place to have a leather/saddle shop.  There is a leather/saddle shop in Glenrock, I took a saddle there once to have a repair and I kid you not it came back to me with a bolt and nut holding the saddle cinch on, with the bolt sticking into the horse's side.   If you need a day job with excellent benefits to get things moving, Cameco is 23 miles away.  They just changed the schedule  so you work 4 tens each week resulting in 3 day weekends.    There are lots of rodeos/gymkhanas/roping events, etc. in this area and since this is local and close to or in Casper you could catch alot of the traffic from smaller areas that come to Casper to shop.  Also Casper hosts the National High School Rodeo each year.


Hope some of this was helpful.  PM me if you have any other questions that I might be able to answer.

Brandy

Actually, Casper hosts the college National finals each year. The National Highschool Finals rotates. It has been held in Gillette several times as well as RockSprings most recently and somewhere in Illinois.

Every decent size town in Wyoming has a rodeo arena or event center where horse activities are held. The Cam Plex in Gillette always has something horse related going on. We could really use a good saddleshop here, but until you get a teputation built it will be slow. That is why we dont have any good shops anymore.

Tex

[longrifle]

Everyone,

Thank you so much for the responses.

It's so good to hear from you all. Mama I will try and come by when we make our circle up through there. Andrew, I've thought about you from time to time too. It would be great to see you again. I sure want to come up to Sheridan area and look over the old stomping grounds anyway, got to have a beer at the Mint for old times sake, celebrate that I'm still here and able to do that.  Brandy, you are the second that has told me to look hard at the Casper area. Colonialshooter said as much when we were in Douglas a few weeks ago. I had always looked at Casper as a place to drive through to get where I wanted to be, but now I think I should come and take another hard look at it. Sounds like Glenrock needs someone who knows what the heck he's doing when doing repairs. A bolt and a nut, really? What the heck was he thinking? Kelly, I think it should be around the 1st of August we head that we head that way. I sign out on terminal leave from the army on the 25th of July. I was thinking of going to the mountains here in Colorado with my son for a few days for some fishing and camping and then head up for a big circle. Thinking it will be about a week, before I have to be in Oklahoma. BAR BAR 2, I would love to meet up. You asked about experience, I have worked at some of the largest ranches in Montana, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Texas. Trained horses all over the place, Michigan, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, and obviously Wyoming. As far as leather work goes I worked for two years in a shop in Oklahoma and worked for a time at National Saddlery in Oklahoma City. I know wherever I settle it will take some time to build a reputation as a great saddle maker, so I know I will need some employment in the meantime. I would prefer something that involves horses and cattle, but I would work as the door greeter at Wally World if that's what it takes to make ends meet. I am just so glad to be coming home, I can hardly stand still. Thanks again to you all, I'll see you soon.

longrifle

[Paul Bonneau]

Interesting kind of work, and very unusual. Seems to me this sort of thing is something that requires people to come to you to see your work, the complete opposite of mail order. So if I were you I'd get a map and start sticking pins in it with the existing shops, and then find an area where horses are heavily used where the shops are thin.

Of course some leatherworkers are more word-of-mouth types so you won't be able to find them. I'm trying to remember, when we had the Bill Cody Ranch we would have some guy (can't remember his name) come in and go over our saddles and tack in the springtime (or maybe winter, I can't remember), getting ready for the next season to start. You might look at dude ranches, maybe give a few of them a call or drive there and ask them what arrangements they have and whether they are satisfied with them (and look over their saddles to see what shape they are in). If you can figure out how to shoe horses too, you might pick up work that way. In fact you might think of just general service for dude and guest ranches if you are handy (plumbing, electrical, etc.) along with the saddle work. As Tex says, it's probably mostly famine if saddlework is all you do.

Also trying holsters as Susan said, does not seem a bad idea.

[longrifle]

Hey All,

I finished up outprocessing out of the Army yesterday. So, my son and I will be heading north tomorrow. Stopping in Cheyenne to look at property on saturday morning and then we will be heading up to the Northeast corner of Wyoming to take a peek around. After there we are headed to the Casper area for a look around with fresh eyes. I had always looked at Casper as someplace to drive through to get where I was going, so I will actually stop and see more of it than the Flying J. Then we have to run over to Jackson Hole for the Appleseed on the 4th and 5th. If anyone would like to meet up please let me know. Hope to see ya'll soon.

longrifle

[MamaLiberty]

Hey All,

I finished up outprocessing out of the Army yesterday. So, my son and I will be heading north tomorrow.

That's wonderful! Send a PM for directions to my house.

[Kelly]

There's a good chance I'll be lurking around the Newcastle area on Sunday.  Let us know what time you land and maybe we can meet up for coffee.

Safe travels,
Kelly

[longrifle]

Will do. Barring any unforeseen troubles we should land in Newcastle Sat. afternoon or early evening and will be around through Sunday. Probably head towards Sundance area on Monday.

longrifle